A break from the ordinary scheduled programming!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Today I am 25 years old.  AGAIN.  

This is me at my 2 year old birthday party.  I'm assuming these were my gifts.  But do you LOVE the cake with the two little candles.  

TTYL Robbin

Week 6!!!!!!!!

Yes, you are probably asking yourself why would someone do this to their kid?  I don't know why, I think she just didn't like me very much.  That sweater?  And the fly away collar under there is actually back in style!  Childhood was PAINFUL.  Let me just have a heart to heart with my seven readers out there.  My "sistagirls" will already know what I am talking about, but to all my current or soon-to-be transracial mom's to little Black girls, just feel me.....

I was what you would call "bald-headed".  Nope, no long pigtails with colorful barrettes and balls.  I was just down right bald.  My mother, bless her heart, never thought you needed to do anything to make the hair grow.  She just let it be free.  And boy, did I pay the cost.   I mean, I was her "little Princess" and so to her, I could do no wrong.  Which made me not quite the favorite to my extended family.  So in return, they teased me about my hair.  Or lack thereof.

Now mind you, I wasn't the flyest dresser either.  My mom was a single mom and she was VERY frugal.  Being that I was a small child -- "straight up and down" like the old folks say -- I was able to fit all the ''hand me downs".  Problems with that is, I have only one sibling right?   A BROTHER, who's four years older than me.   And he happened to be of a slight build as well, and he never gains a pound.  As a matter of fact he's 38 and can fit his band uniform and probably his prom suit.  Anyway, back to my point.   Because my mother was so cheap, I wore all of Charles's lovingly worn pants!  Yep, back in the day, we had these wonderful little things called PATCHES.  Does anyone remember them?  My mom would put a patch on the skidded up knee of my brothers pants and make me wear them.   Now she wasn't cruel enough to make me wear them out.  Nope, only outside where my friends (who were cruel enough to tease me) would see me!   

Luckily for me, I was SO cool (okay, not me but my very-popular brother) that no one really teased me... to my face.   See Charles was and has always been the popular one.  He was like the superstar to the WHOLE family, and my mom has 12 brothers and sisters.    Good ole Charles was like the cousin/brother/nephew that you wanted to be related too.   I really don't know why to this day.  I asked my therapist if it was my imagination.  (Just joking I don't have a therapist... anymore).   Because of his popularity, I didn't have to endure too many taunts and teases.  Plus I was a bully.  More on that later.

Anyway HAIR, that's what I was talking about.   This hairdo I remember well.  My mother lovingly (read: quickly), gathered ( I originally said brushed but realized there could not have been one brush anywhere in this house) my hair up to the highest point on my head and she put a rubber band on what she could, slicked some POMADE on the sides and then she taped this little bow on top.  Yep, i knew on my way out the door for picture day that I was screwed!

As bad as it was, my mother got the largest package and lovingly sent these pictures of me all of the country.  To about 12 states.   

And forever (and now thanks to the internet) I will be immortalized with this shirt, this sweater, this hair and a taped bow.  

TTYL   Robbin

Week 5!!!!!

Sorry, for the two ppl (none of my local friends of course) that read my blog.  I was busy studying for my final exam.  Now that I've successfully failed it, I have more time to blog!!!!  Hopefully I didn't fail the exam but its not looking good!  So because I've been so diligent, I've not had time to post week five pics.  Let me please caution you,  it gets REALLY worse from here on out. No cute little pig nose, no big bow.  Now you get to see what happens when your mom, gives you a perm.

So with out further ado!  

TTYL  Robbin

AGE 4

My mom was really bad about developing pictures so the year in the corner is WRONG! lol

The first picture is My Brother Charles, My Sister Rose and ME

The Second picture is the Beloved Brother, ME and My MOM.

Week 4!!!!!!!!!

Wow, I am heading into week 4 already.   I know this will get harder after the court opens but I've been trying to stay busy.  I have a final coming up in a few days and I haven't started studying yet.  My front yard is in really bad shape and I need to spend today working on it.  Not to mention I have to get some last minute assignments in, and I volunteered to help with some campaigning.  So that's my weekend.   Exciting huh?  I know!

Positive vibes to all the Gladney families that are scheduled for court this week.  And positive vibes to those held in a suspended pattern that they get thru before court closing.  Lets see 20 plus families get thru so we can start on some REFERRALS!!

TTYL Robbin

Week 3 -- Robbin and Charles

The EAGLE HAS LANDED

My dossier has finally been sighted in Ethiopia.  It went to Washington DC on the 11th of this month and although I was officially on the waitlist since that time it still had to some stuff to do in DC before being flown over the water.   It will now go to be translated and wait for my Babycakes.  

Nothing about this process is easy.  I think that I completed my application, homestudy, dossier and background checks in good time.  It took me 4 months.  But now the real waiting begins.  Court is closing next week and there are some families at the eleventh hour that are very anxious for court approval to bring their angels home.  I am sad for them.  I know that no one wants to wait.  We all want it RIGHT NOW.  I know that for some the wait is not long but for others it is UNBEARABLE.  I am typically a TYPE A personality, non-emotional individual, but this process has turned me into an MOMZILLA.  

I am obsessed with Blogs.  I probably have 250 favorites.  I am obsessed with Yahoo Groups.  I probably belong to 10 adoption groups.  I am obsessed with baby stuff.  I won't let myself buy much but I am obsessed with looking.  As a matter of fact, I was watching some baby show (2 moms and some Quads) and they had this great bottle holder that was shaped like a ring or donut.  I MUST HAVE IT.  I am obsessed with finding it.  Any of my 3 readers that know what the H*ll I am talking about, can you please let me know???

I am just obsessed with seeing her.  When I need to be studying.  For my LAST LAW SCHOOL FINAL EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   No I am not graduating yet.  I finish in December, but no more FINALS.  

To my friends that are taking the Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Bar Exam Tomorrow and Wednesday, GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  There is too many of you to name so each exclamation represents one of you.  Please the Johnny Walker is on me afterwards.  I swear.  Besides, I can still afford it, cause I still get student loan refunds.  And you don't!   

Okay that last paragraph was stupid, because none of the three readers of this blog are taking the Bar, nor does anyone I go to school with, EVER read this.  As a matter of fact, noone that I know in real life read this.

Ok back to what I was saying.  What was I saying?  Nothing.  (But I'm practicing on stretching my sentences so that I can get more billable hours.)

Thanks Celeste for the blog title.

TTYL Robbin

WEEK 3 -- All things 3

Ok so when I started this count down I intended to be REALLY creative. I wanted to go where no blogger has ever went before. And then in honor of my e-friend Julie, who fearlessly laid her self before the world with her WACKY WEDNESDAY post, I decided that each week should be filled with pics that correlate the wait time and my age!!! Brilliant?? I know! And because I am a cheater, I'm gonna go back two weeks and add my lovely and first most embarrassing shots.

I must warn you, this is not gonna be pretty. I am considering suing my mother (After I'm done with Law School of course), for this torture!

TTYL Robbin

DIAMOND HOPKINS MITCHELL

3-13-93 to 07-26-08

I've mentioned my first furry daughter on this blog before.  Miss Diamond has been with me for 15 years!!  Well as you can see from the above caption.  Diamond has passed on to the great beyond. Diamond was a very loyal dog.  From the time that I bought her home in the shoe box, to the day that she closed her eyes, there was never a sweeter, more attentive, intelligent and beautiful dog.  She was my first puppy as an adult.  She endured the temporary housing of the Rottweiler "Scrappy", the pregnant pitbull "Gee's" and her 13 puppies, the bunny rabbit "Brianna", the shoe eating cockerspaniel Coco, the loving terrier mix Remy and her fluffy born-in-my-house puppy Sasafras a.k.a. Sassy.  She loved them all.  She had three beautiful litters and has outlived most of her children and many of her grandchildren.  She was a very good dog.

There is not a person in my life that does not have a Diamond story.  I have so many that she would need her own blog.  But Diamond was tired and with great grace and pride, she was gently laid to rest on tonight.  She didn't fight or complain, but she just could no longer prance proudly as she has done for her entire life.  It's so funny I would always say, "Diamond will not leave here until she knew I had a baby."  I think she really tried to hold on.  She always knew when you needed her.  She had since moved in with my Mom, who needed her more, and my mother relied on her friendship greatly.  My best friend Deanna who has loved on Diamond since she first came home was present to share in the last minutes of Miss Diamonds life.  

Because she was such a little lady, she was usually referred to as Miss Diamond.  But she would let her friends call her Di Di.   She had many friends and will be dearly missed.

For those of you who have fur loved ones please hug your babies a little tighter and spend a few extra dollars on those really good dog treats.  The love that they have for their masters is unconditional.  Their life's purpose is to please us.  And they never need to hear thanks.  For those of you who have never had a fur love, you would never understand.  It is truly a gift.

I feel good knowing (thanks to the movie) that ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN.  Miss Diamond is certainly at peace.

I have cried, and I have laughed.  I share this very intimate experience with those I know and love and those that I've come to know during this process.

The picture?  That is Miss Diamonds very last hour of life.   She laid on the floor with my Mom and she didn't complain at all.

With a very heavy heart

TTYL Robbin

Week 2 Pics

WEEK 2 -- ALL THINGS TWO

WEEK 1 And yet there was 1

One year old moments. -- Family Makes it Better

One year old moments. -- One is the Loneliest Number

WEEK 1 -- ALL THINGS ONE

THE ONE ORGANIZATION

In honor of my first week on the waitlist I wanted to share something about ONE that is significant.  This is a phenomenal organization.  I encourage All to join, give and help others live!

About ONE

ONE is Americans of all beliefs and every walk of life - united as ONE - to help make poverty history. We are a campaign of over 2.4 million people and growing from all 50 states and over 100 of America's most well-known and respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. As ONE, we are raising public awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and efforts to fight such problems in the world's poorest countries. As ONE, we are asking our leaders to do more to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries.

Check it out for your self

http://www.one.org/

MARY J AND BONO -- ONE 

International Adoption

      Speak No Evil

      See No Evil

      Hear No evil

      Show No Evil

This darn silence is just EVIL!

(Okay, I really had nothing to say but I feared that I would forget my password to blogger since its been SO long!)

TTYL Robbin

2nd Trimester --Dossier sent to Gladney

Today I sent all 19 authenticated documents (2 extra cause of the multiple employment), my family pics, my photos and of course money to Gladney. It was hard to let it out of my sight. I have worked so hard getting everything together and now I'm entrusting it to FED EX?  But I parted with it.  

The first trimester is the paperchase

The 2nd trimester is the wait

The 3rd Trimester is the referral and court period

Labor is the court date 

Travel is the birth.

and of course, another happy dance as the count down begins... well um maybe I'd better start counting after I hear it from Gladney.  But I can still dance!

ttyl

Robbin

It's HERE!!!!!

Yep I received my I-171H!  It is the last thing that I needed.  I looked at my time estimates and surprisingly I expected it on the 24th of this month.   All told, I sent my app in March and my homestudy in April, I was Fingerprinted in May and 6 weeks later I had the "Golden ticket".  

I am just besides myself with excitement and it says:  Number of Orphans:  ONE or TWINS!!!

All that's left is for me to do a notarized true copy and authenticate it and about 3 other docs, at my local Secretary of State for just 1.oo per page!  Thank you State of Michigan!!  I expect to get this package in the mail on Wednesday!!!  I wanted to go on the waitlist in June and I am almost there.

I am doing the happy dance!

Blog Change

I am really considering changing my blog to a mac site.  Not that I don't love blogspot.  But I strive to be just a little um..... different.

Let me know what you think.  Hell let me know that you are even out there.  

TTYL

Robbin

Yummy friends, Good company and Great wine

Today, i had dinner at the The Blue Nile in Ferndale  with two new e-friends.  Both of whom I met in the yahoogroups!  Shout outs to Sara and Cristina.  Dinner was the real deal, but this picture is not, because I forgot to take one.  But this is the jist of what happened, add in a couple of black hands and some delicious Pinot Grigio, and you get the ideal.

Still waiting on that good ole I-171h.  Send out positive vibes to Customs, I've been emailing them regularly, I think they've put me on "ignore".   All I can say is they better not make me call my people cause heads will roll.  (Okay so I don't really know people, but I know people that know people!)

TTYL

Robbin

Still Waiting!

I know that I am a really bad blogger. Oh when I started i had ideals of grandeur, imagining that I would blog daily and my blog would become the source of information for all the single PAP's just waiting, to follow my lead. HA! Well it didn't happen, it hasn't happened and its not gonna happen.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired of waiting on the darn I-171h! I knew it would be bad but had no ideal that it would take this long. I have been waiting for over a month. I thought Michigan was quick! I hate to pull rank since I do have some strong connections in the State Senators office. (Smile to all those that know that "stalking" does not qualify as a "connection"). I guess I should embrace this time since my agency is not giving out any referrals right now ( A whole 'nother story!); the rainy season is on its way, and I really need to make some MORE money. Darn real estate market!!! Hell I'm gonna have to get a job for real if it doesn't turn around. And do TENANTS EVER PAY THEIR DAMN RENT?????? Ok, I'm sorry, I'm venting. This is clearly why I've not been posting. Not my normal humorous and lovely self (Insert gagging sound here).

So prayer warriors, please go to your higher powers, get some positive jou jou (sic) going and ask the holy government God's to just send it already!!!!

TTYL
Robbin

It's Amazing How Much Wealth I Really Have

Happy Mother's Day to Mom's EVERYWHERE

I heard from many of my friends today and gave out several blessings of my own. I am blessed to have spent this year with my mother and I pray for many many more. To each and every one of you mothers and mothers to be, I send this to you.......







TTYL Robbin

Just in time for Mother's day

She got the call!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations to New Mommy Christina S.! She just received a referral for a beautiful baby girl yesterday just 2.5 months old.

Mommy can't share her pictures yet. But please say a prayer for Mommy and little Ms. Amina.

TTYL Robbin

Kids say the darnest things.

My Constitution Law Professor showed this one as his introduction to First Amendment Free Speech.

And the decision is????

Not that anyone actually reads my Blog (smile).  But I needed to make the decision of leaving for my trip to San Juan or going to my much coveted fingerprinting  that I received with very short notice.  

 My             appointment was scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) at 10:00 a.m.,

 and my             departs tomorrow (Friday) at 8:00 a.m..'

  

 Needless to say, I really need a vacation and my ticket is set to expire next week.  

 School is starting back & I'm externing, it will be  hard to finagle for my  

So I needed a little ingenuity.  I decided to go today (Thursday) , at my scheduled time and try to appeal to the sympathy of the USCIS, to take prints!!!!

After a little  and um some   showing.....(those of you who know me know I  would never do that) 

The     said yes.     

                  

 I was allowed to do my 

The office was empty when I got there, and 30 minutes later (after only 3 repeats), the office was packed.   

 Robbin!!!!  

So I leave you with this little pictorial to illustrate my plight.

        

TTYL  Robbin

Dilemma

Fingerprints or Puerto Rico?  

TTYL 

Robbin

Blog Addiction

Ok, I will admit it.... I am a Blog addict. I spend an insane amount of time researching and reading Blogs. I cannot get my friends and family to understand the concept of Blogging. It's evolving, and changing material, like a journal. If I invite them to see my Blog, what they see that ONE day is the extent of what they will see. Bless their hearts. I guess it will catch on in a year or so. My mom will probably be the first to get it. She always gets it first.  

Part of my infatuation with Blogs, is the intimacy that I share with people that share my like interest and goals and desires. These are people that I do not know, and may never meet. You can find Blogs about ANYTHING!!!! (And yes, I know blog is not a noun, I just like to capitalize it.)

The three (is there even 3?) people that read my Blog, know that I am also in a weird love affair with YOUTUBE (All caps, all the time to symbolize the importance it has in my life lol). I think YOUTUBE gives you the ability to really see into the lives of others and really see things that you may be interested in. Oh the proverbial "fly on the wall". Really, anything, from step by step recipes, to child birth... LIVE!  

I am so happy to have this thing called "internet" to make my world a little broader.  I know that now, my ignorance to things can only be attributed to my desire NOT to want to know, because the internet provides me a grand opportunity to at least learn the preliminaries about anything and everything, anytime.  Thank you Wikipedia.  

Okay, so this Blog in particular allows me to go on and on in true Robbin fashion.  My friends in Blogville (a place, so I am allowed to capitalize it), may not know that I am so wordy; but my non-visiting-the-blog-real- friends know I can go on and on and on .... You get the picture.

Anyway, the reason for this Sunday morning post is because, while visiting Sandi and Jason's Blog I found this video.  I hope they don't mind that I borrowed it.   I hope that my non-visiting-the-blog-"real"-friends (NVBRF) will watch it and understand a little more why ETHIOPIA is so important.  Why it matters so much to me.  Even though the grim reality is that for every 1 child that is adopted, there are 10,000 orphans left behind.

Am I doing the right thing by adopting this one small child away from her homeland?  Am I guilty of just skimming the cream and leaving the rest? Is there a greater calling to help every orphan sustain life in there own homeland by contributing to the economic growth of the country, by giving rather than taking away?

This video is amazing.   It has brought me to tears.  It has made me question who I am.  I hope that it affects you as well.


TTYL

Robbin

YAY I have a date!

Today I received my appointment to be printed.   Unfortunately, it's next Friday when I am supposed to be in Puerto Rico!!!  I'm not rescheduling it, that's for sure.  According to my forensic blog stalking, there is a really short time between the prints and the LETTER!!!!! I'm leaving for PR later dammit.   Now if only my agency would sign off of everything I would feel good.  I got most everything authenticated except 3 docs and the CIS form.   I am ready to be waiting.  I have a goal date, but I'm not telling you.  I don't want to jinx myself!

TTYL

Robbin

Single Mama Drama

I am adopting single and I haven't always gotten the response that I wanted from those closest too me.   Friends and especially family were very luke warm to the ideal.  I'm so tired of answering questions about the status of my uterus.  

I have dated my fair share of guys and although I liked many of them (the last one especially), I don't think that I'd ever want to be involved with them forever in a way that is connected by the great role of being a parent.   I know that two parents is most desirable but not just two people. I hear the constant story from men about the "thorn in my side baby mama." It's hilarious because it could all be AVOIDED.  I hear men who have to "babysit" their own kids.  I see men that don't even bother to spend time with kids but actually want to spend time with ME???????

Ultimately, I see examples of great dads, loving dads, involved dads, and despite-the-odds dads.  And I have one!  My dad didn't live in the house with me but he was always all about me. 

I believe that by adopting this child now, I am committing to be a great parent and I'll keep praying to one day have a companion that will share the experience with me. 

I think that it is important to clear up some things within your life and your mind BEFORE meeting with social workers and going thru the extensive mental interrogation that adoption takes you thru.   This is not for the faint at heart, AND it's expensive.   

As far as my friends, Hell, they don't always understand this "abortion thing".  Hands down I doubt any of them PLANNED to have their children.  They all got pregnant the "normal" way.  By accident.  The fact that I plan to parent makes me head and shoulders above the rest.  Matter of fact, it makes me feel a little superior (smile).  

And alas, since I am addicted to Youtube.  I wanted to share with you a "normal" experience!

Enjoy

TTYL

Robbin

It's a dog-gone shame

Yesterday I spoke with my agency and they are reviewing my homestudy and my application documents.  They did request a letter from the local police station because of my "brush with the law" in 1996.   My very vicious (not) lab mix sweetie Diamond, was running around without a leash and the very caring (not) dog catcher gave me a citation.  Of course you can't defeat the truth and I paid 100.00 fine, for that misdemeanor and kept my dear poochie out of jail.... that time.  Diamond now has strict instructions to always take a leash when she's going out to walk her self.

Gladney has said it will be about 10 days review

the application and homestudy.  WTF!!!!! It's not the USCIS timeline that takes so much time, it's just that they only start the ticker after they get the homestudy.    

TTYL   Robbin

Safety in Numbers

Ok, I can't take credit for this link because it borrowed it from my blog friend Hazel.  But I believe I see the light. This site is hilarious, it's all about stuff that "White Parents" do.  The problem is that I've spent way too many Saturday afternoons studying just about everything on this website. I need all of this and I need it from the comfort of my suburban home.  :)  Now I don't feel so bad.

TTYL Robbin

A Blind Eye

Today I watched a movie "In My Country" starring Samuel L. Jackson.  The movie is about atrocities suffered by the South Africans by the hands of the police (gov't period).  The perpetrators were tried and the victims were allowed to tell there stories.  It was just devastating.  It was told from the perspective of a journalist and told under the guise of a love story.  Watching the movie I am again in awe of the beauty of Africa and of the African people.  I am reminded why it is so important that I don't sit back and enjoy the luxuries of being an American. The luxuries of being educated.  The luxuries of being privileged.  

As with any PAP, I am constantly asked why I am adopting, and why  Africa.  Everyone has their personal reasons.  For me, when I decided to adopt, I became engrossed in all things adoption.  I quickly selected a favorite agency.  They represented much of what I am drawn to in most of my decisions.  They were one of the largest and more advertised than most.  They were tech savvy and they had  the easiest web addresses and the most colorful websites.  They were informative, and provided step by step, full disclosure about the process, the time frames and of course the cost.   But most importantly, they had pages and pages of prosperous couples vying to be parents; large numbers of babies on the way and of course several pages of successful adoptive families with beautiful babies freshly born and prettied up.  So of course I chose them. And I moved full speed ahead.  

Being a Black women, I wanted a Black child.  No question a girl was the best decision for me because I am single and have mostly women around me.   Also, I didn't want to contribute to the cyclical effects of Single Moms raising little spoiled Black boys.  What I found in domestic adoption was too disturbing for me to imagine.  The discrepancies between adopting a Black child versus a Non-Black child was more than I could fathom.  

 

A few of the problems:

as a disclaimer these things aren't representative in every agency, but most of them have some of these.

* Single mothers that are Black may adopt but not single Caucasian moms

* A child is only considered bi-racial if they are mixed with Black.  In other words, if a child is say Hispanic and Indian, they are not bi-racial

*African American infants are considered "special needs" just because of race

*Adoption of African American children are discounted by sometimes as much as 50%

I was devastated by these things.  I tried to discuss it with many agency owners.   Of course there were so many justifications, ranging from "need" to the "desire to encourage adoption".  In the end for me, I could not contribute ONE CENT to a system that devalues my ethnicity.  I was told by many that it's okay to dislike the process as long as in the end it's about the baby. But for me, I know that the system continues to grow by each person that disregard the means to justify the ends.

So alas, I decided to look into Ethiopia.  And to be quite honest I've never turned back.  For me, international adoption is about 3x's more expensive.  However, in the end, the value of this new life is priceless.  

TTYL  Robbin

Memory

In honor of my love hate relationship with FedEx.   My package did finally arrive at Gladney.   

Ok so I'm a relatively educated person. Not really smart, but quite learned.  I've been to college, some grad school and now Law school.   I built it all on my Urban-inner-city college-prep primary school education.  Perhaps, it was that primary education that put me on the wrong track, because, I was in college before I had to name all the states and capitols! (Ok maybe in 3rd grade but who remembers?).  I definitely was in college before I was challenged to name the countries on the continent of Africa.  Of course by this time I knew that there was a ton that I didn't know and that I am definitely not Smarted Than A Fifth Grader.  So I've had the luxury of being a selfish American and only being concerned with whatever I wanted to be concerned with. 

Suffice it to say, that when I decided on Ethiopia I pulled my College textbook out and revisited my Africa map and thanks to Wikipedia, I looked at the entire region and became totally fascinated with the city of Ethiopia.... just kidding!     Forget the fifth grader.  I am not even smarter than a 5 year old. 

I've decided to challenge myself to learn more things.  I think I will start from the very beginning and I will only learn from those who have mastered the art of the skill they are teaching.   I have included a copy of my lesson for the day.  As it is done by the Masters.  

 

Enjoy.

TTYL Robbin

Overnight does not necessarily mean the next Night!

Yesterday I worked very hard on getting my full adoption application for Gladney together.  I wanted all three parts instead of the recommended one week after another.  Here's a list of the things required.

1st Group

1. Application -- 8 pgs

2. Statement of International Adoption Risks

3. Acceptance of Adoption Risks

4. Check for program deposit

5. Check for Homestudy review

6. PCR Form

7. Service Plan Agreement

8. Child Preference Form

2nd Group

1. Family Photos- 10-12 color photos

2. Birth Certificate

3. Employer Letter

4. CIS "Release of Information" form

3rd Group

1. Physician report

2. Medical insurance Proof

3. Criminal Clearance and child abuse clearance

4. 4 reference letters

So I put everything together, made copies and ran (by car of course) to Fed Ex to send it off using my new Fed Ex account.  Overnight.  Thank you very much.  $37.00 later, I left feeling very progressive.  Now, let me mention that Gladney suggest each group one week after the other, but NO, I wanted to really impress th

em with my great document accumulation skills.  Now hindsight is 20/20.  Had I sent the first group say, a week ago, I would not have ran into my next hiccup.

I received an email from social worker saying Gladney could not approve my homestudy because they did not have my APPLICATION.  So of course I thought, have no fear....

. just a minor snafu...  my application is on a plane right now headed to my patiently waiting case manager that has nothing else to do but review it STAT!  

Enter the next hiccup, stage left.  

So I decide to track my lovely package sent by my trustworthy Fed Ex, a

nd alas, my package was sitting in TENNESSEE!   What the hell?

So I verify that I in fact sent it to TEXAS and not TENNESSEE.  And yes, the address was verified and there was really no excuse for my package to be just sitting.  

  My Fear

 

So, of course like the type A personality neurotic that I am, I called Fed Ex to promptly get to the bottom of the missing package.  The very nice Customer Service Gentlemen (at extension #####00000000 -- right 

now please).... informed me that my package is in fact sitting on a runway in Nashville, waiting on the weather to clear up.  And no ma'am we will not be refunding any of your hard earned cash because it is an Act of God, You do believe in God right?

So now, my homestudy is done, my application package is complete and I am just waiting in limbo.   

My good intentions were all for naught!  

 

Okay, so  today is April 1st, and I guess the the jokes on me!!! 

 

My Lovely Package

TTYL Robbin